N.Korea may suspend denuclearisation talks with US

ANI (5 days ago)

Pyongyang, Mar 15 : North Korea may suspend talks with the United States aimed at denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, Russian News Agency Tass quoted Hui as saying, We have no intention to yield to the US demands [put forward at the Hanoi summit] in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,

Pyongyang's decision came a day after officials from South Korea and the US met in Seoul on Thursday and discussed ways to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, amid a layer of sanctions imposed on the communist country.

The US-South Korea working group met for the first time after the last month's meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, which ended in a stalemate with no agreement reached.

In her statement, Hui blamed Washington for not reaching a consensus in Hanoi and said they (the US) were too busy with pursuing their own political interests and had no sincere intention to achieve a result.

She further noted that during the Hanoi talks, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton had created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the US.

As a result, the summit ended with no significant result, Hui said.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is all set to issue an official statement very soon to announce North Korea's decision following the unproductive Hanoi talks.

The working group meeting by the US and South Korea comes amid several reports surfaced by South Korea's spy agency and two American think tanks speculating that restoration work is underway at the long-range missile launch site in Dongchang-ri in North Korea.

The speculations about the North Korea's possible preparation to launch a missile or a satellite-carrying rocket have also been reported by the US media wherein they stated that there has been an increase in the activity at the missile assembly facility in Sanum-dong.

Ties between the US and North Korea hit a roadblock over the ease of sanctions, where Pyongyang sought relief in economic sanctions as recognition of the steps taken towards denuclearisation.

Washington has, until now, reinforced that relief in sanctions would only be given after the communist country carries out complete and verifiable denuclearisation.